Alder's Grove

Eighth in a series of character-building vignettes following a bunch of characters through their time at Addergoole & beyond.

Basalt shows up in Addergoole: Year 9 as Ahouva's rescuer-slash-Keeper; Thorburn shows up as Ceinwen's Keeper, and Brydan and Indigo have passing mention through the series.

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"Oh, Bry, he's something else."

Basalt hadn't been aware he'd dazed out until the voice brought him back into consciousness. Being around Brydan seemed to do that to him, especially in the last week. Since the dance. Since he'd kissed her, and told her she was an angel and...

...the rest was a little fuzzy. Basalt had drunk more than he ought to, but the booze had been flowing freely, and he'd always been able to hold his liquor before that.

He blinked up at Brydan. He hadn't been told to move yet, but he didn't really mind. Kneeling with his head on her lap was one of the more comfortable ways he could think of to pass the afternoon.

She was frowning, however, which wasn't as good. "Indigo. I don't recall inviting you in."

"You gave me a blanket invitation, remember? And I wanted to show off mine, but you've beaten me to it, as usual."

Even where he was, Basalt could hear the growl from the doorway. His shoulders tensed. He didn't mind being in Brydan's lap, but it was going to be hard to defend her if he was stuck here.

She patted his shoulder. "It's all right, sweetie. You can move."

He didn't want to, not really. But he did, standing, stretching, and getting into a nice bodyguard position looming just behind Brydan's left shoulder.

He didn't want to look at the other people in the room, either, but he did. There was something about the woman's voice that made what he and Brydan were doing sound dirty somehow, instead of just right and proper. And the growl...

Yeah, he'd been afraid of that. The woman was the blonde-and-sometimes-blue girl, Indigo, one of Brydan's friends and in the same Mentorship as Brydan. The other... yeah. Basalt met Thorburn's eyes and shrugged.

The other guy showed all his teeth, in something that was definitely not a smile. Basalt just shrugged again. It could get embarrassing, sure. But if Brydan was anything like Indigo...

"He's pretty awesome, isn't he?" Brydan patted Basalt's shoulder.

He straightened up a little bit and smiled at her. "So are you, miss."

Basalt: His First Year
Nyyrikki: Her First Year
Orliath: Her Second Year
Cynara: Her Second Year

52 15 Days To 52 Weeks

For the 52 days leading up to the 52 weeks of Addergoole: Year 9, I will be posting something Addergoole-related every day.

Today: A vignette of Year 8, from Rix's prompt.

If you leave a light scenario and a number between 2 & 98, I may write another scene!

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Thanksgiving, Year 8
Damaris was in Gregori's room crying again.

He really wasn't sure what to do about that, so he left her there. The other Kept had Thanksgiving dinner taken care of without her help, and dragging her out into the living room would just make the rest of the crew jeer at him.

He'd asked Deus about it, about Damie crying all the time. "It means," his crewmate had told him, "that you're doing it wrong."
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note: Gregori becomes the Kraken from the Black House stories.

For stryck's prompt.
Addergoole has a landing page here and a wiki here.



Content warning: mayyyybe implied heavy flirtation?

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Two weeks after Thorny Disposition (LJ)

Phillipa sat in Professor Valerian's office, very carefully picking the rose hips from her hair and popping the seeds out of them, dropping the roses into a tall bottle.

"There was a student," the Professor told her, "a few years back. Nikita. A similar Change to yours - he grew grapes. I know that he and his Keeper made wine from his grapes, but it was, for them, an intimate affair."

Keeper. She had heard that word a few times in the last couple weeks, but she hadn't quite gotten the gist of it yet. Her new friends seemed to shy away from the topic whenever she brought it up, and so did others, people in class who were so forthcoming about other things, other Eighth Cohorts who were suddenly shy and not talking at all... "Keeper?" Maybe her Mentor would tell her something.

The Professor pursed her lips. "His girlfriend," she qualified. "Shiva. You know Efrosin? His half-sister." She reached over and carefully plucked one of Phillipa's berries. "It can be, I'm told, an immensely intimate experience."

Phillipa blushed hotly. Intensely intimate... It was as if the professor was reading her mind, her daydreams and fantasies. "I can imagine?" she offered cautiously. "I mean, this is part of me, right?" She stripped the fruit and offered the meaty bits to the older woman, studying her Mentor's lips and not her eyes.

"It is," the professor agreed, licking the berry from Phillipa's fingers. "I wonder what would happen if we planted the seeds?"

Now, she could manage to look her teacher in her amazingly-green eyes. "Let's find out."

To Anonymous' commissioned prompt, a continuation of this story (and on LJ).

Addergoole has a landing page here and on LJ.


Porter stared at the strange girl who had so tidily taken control of their lives – Arundel’s more than his, certainly, but still. Then it hit him. “Right. Come on, Arun.” He dropped to his knees and got a shoulder under his friend’s arm. “Stand up, that’s it.”

“Ow,” Arundel complained weakly.

“Yeah, I know. Those look like they’re gonna hurt worse than a tail and my ears did. But you gotta stand up.”

“Stand up,” Sylvia echoed, and with a muffled whimper, Arundel made it to his feet. “That’s better.” She slid herself under his other arm. “Porter and I will get you there. I’ll take care of you.” She opened her door and they edged, carefully, through it. “Do you know any combat magic, tiger?”
( Read more... )